More than $1M of pipe ends stolen from warehouse

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) - An investigation is continuing into the theft of $1.4 million worth of drill pipe ends from a Fort Smith warehouse.

The Southwest Times Record (

http://bit.ly/JiwCxe

) reports that officers were dispatched Thursday evening to a warehouse used by Enid, Okla.-based Oil Tool Rentals to store the parts, which weigh about 347,000 pounds in all.

Oil Tool Rentals business manager Mike Cholerton said the stolen pieces are welded onto a longer piece of pipe, which is how the drill pipes are made. The company ordered the ends and the actual pipe, but canceled the pipe order after the economy tanked.

He says they couldn't cancel the order for the ends because they have a specific thread type, so the ends were to remain in storage until more pipes were purchased.

Information from: Southwest Times Record, http://www.swtimes.com/

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